Blockchain News 22.06.2018

Court approves Mt. Gox repayment plan

Mt. Gox creditors are one step closer to receive $450 per Bitcoin lost. The Tokyo District Court ordered to stop the bankruptcy process and start the civil rehabilitation process.

The Mt. Gox Trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, won’t sell any more Bitcoin — at least for the foreseeable future until the creditors are reimbursed in Bitcoin in 2019.

Mt. Gox. controls 137,890.96 BTC ($880M USD) or 0.81 percent of all bitcoins currently in existence, distribution of these funds could have an effect on cryptocurrency markets over the next year.

Bahamas to pilot state-backed digital currency

The Central Bank of Bahamas plans to pilot a digital currency. The announcement from the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Finance, K. Peter Turnquest, was made at the Bahamas Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference taking place this week.

Turnquest hopes that the Grand Bahama will become a digital hub for the entire region.

He said: “The production of a modern fully digital payment service is the way forward for this era of governance. A digital Bahamian currency is especially important for the many Family Islands as they have seen many commercial banks downsize and pull out of their communities, leaving them without banking services.”

One of Japan’s biggest Bitcoin exchanges, with a trading volume of $65M in the past 24 hours, has announced today they have received an “administrative penalty” by the Japanese FSA for inadequate KYC/AML requirements.

They say a settlement has been reached to implement an improvement plan.

They are now to review all current customers identification documents and may ask some of them to complete the identification process again.

In the meantime, all new account registrations are temporarily suspended until “Existing customers status and identity are reviewed and confirmed & the internal control system is strengthened.”

The CEO of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry has revealed that cryptocurrency transactions have surpassed credit card sales at the retail shop and 20% of the company’s sales are now attributable to cryptocurrency.

CEO Stephen Silver said his jewelry store was the first jewelry retailer in the world to accept cryptocurrency back in 2014.

New blockchain ETF launching on Toronto Stock Exchange

A new blockchain ETF will begin trading Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, offering exposure to the infrastructure behind the disruptive technology.

The Horizons fund will focus on hardware and services according to Steve Hawkins, co-chief executive officer of Horizons ETFs Management Canada Inc.

The ETF’s holdings include companies such as semiconductor firm Nvidia Corp.